The White Fang's Son
by SkittyKittie
Summary: Taking place 12 years before the start of Naruto, it's a story I made about my character Kyarii. Told in first person view.
1. The Prologue

As the sunlight filtered in through the tree tops, a little girl sat in the middle of the forest running a long rope through her hands. Tears were running down her cheeks. She was no more than 7 years old with dark brown hair a little past her shoulders. She fiddled with her rope as if it was some sort of consolation for what was upsetting her. She was lost, more than physically lost, but emotionally as well. It had only been a few weeks since she had come to Konoha, the Hidden Village in the Leaves. No one even knew how she had gotten there. Rumors had it that she was brought by the aoinin plant shinobi, but such people were just myth. Bottom line was, she didn't know where she came from or even who she really was. Her memory was blank. Now she sat alone, lost in her thoughts and a forest.

_"I should have stayed at the ranch and waited for Shikaku to come home," _she thought as she started to cry more, "_Coming out here by myself was a big mistake..."_

A rustling noise came from behind her, but she was too upset to notice. A young boy, around the age of 8 years old, emerged from the shrubs. His white hair had a tint of blue where the sun hit it and his eyes were a green almost as unique as the girl's gray-violet eyes.

"Hey, are you okay?" he crouched down next to the little girl.

She shook her head 'no', but continued to stare at her rope. "I'm... I can't find my way home.." she cried.

"Where do you live? I can take you back, no problem!"

"The Nara ranch..." she sniffed. She looked up at him with cloudy eyes as she grabbed her rope tighter. He stood up and held out his hand for her to take.

"Nara, huh? You sure don't look like a Nara! Your eyes are way different than theirs!" she took his hand timidly and wiped her tears on her sleeve.

"It's... kind of a long story."

"Well we got a ways to go. Tell me about it," he said, "Oh! By the way, I'm Mizuki, what's your name?"

"Kyarii... Kyarii Nara." Saying her last name felt odd for her, she could sense that wasn't right, but she couldn't remember any better.

"Well, Kyarii, let's hear it. What brings you to the Nara's clan? They're an odd bunch if you ask me," he smiled and started to walk. She followed him closely and stared at him for a moment. There was something that clicked in that instant. A sense of security, maybe. Her grip on her rope loosened. She smiled through her drying tears and began to tell him all that had happened to her since she first arrived at Konoha.

That day marked the start of Kyarii and Mizuki's friendship, a friendship that would lead them both to believe there was nothing in the world that could tear them apart...

Mean while, just a few miles away, another boy mourned his father's suicidal death... alone, trying to hide his emotions by means of a simple facial mask. A mask that the public would never see unwrapped again.

- About 5 years later -

I could feel the sunlight warming the top of my head and starting to burn the back of my neck. I could smell the damp air of the forest around me and hear the cool morning breeze brush past me. I could feel the coarse threading of my rope as I played with it between my fingers. I don't know why I felt so attached to it. It was only a rope. Maybe it was because that was one of the few things that I had with me when I was brought to Konoha? But I think it was more than that.

Most kids had a security blanket as they grew up, but I had my rope. I always made sure to have it with me, usually tied around my waist as a belt. It was frayed a little at the tips, but other than that, it almost looked new. I did my best to take care of it really well, which was quite easy. I could just touch it and any damage it had taken reverted back to new. But I could do more than that, with one touch I could make it grow longer, shrink, strike out at the play ground bully, tie up the game caught on the most recent hunting trip, or make a knot around a sled. And sometimes, in heated moments, I didn't even need to touch it. This odd talent was the only thing that concretely reminded me that I didn't belong in Konoha, but it was also the only thing that connected me to my past.

It was a secret I had kept from everyone else. It wasn't normal to be able to make inanimate objects come alive like I could. Well, not for kids that weren't in shinobi training, like myself. I was afraid that if anyone found out they would make me join the Academy. And I had sworn to myself, and Mizuki, that I wouldn't give my life to violence and war. Becoming a Konoha shinobi was the last thing on my to-do list.

I breathed in deeply, taking in the surrounding nature. Ever since I had first seen this forest, I knew there was something that I liked about it. It was the forest of the Nara ranch, so I had easy access to it and often wandered in it. It was my escape from reality. I knew every tree and shrub. It became my place to relax, clear my mind, and try to remember anything from my past. I remembered the first time I had came to this forest. Getting lost... and finding Mizuki...

"Kyarii!" his voice echoed in the back of my mind.

I closed my eyes and gripped my rope in my hands, feeling my chakra flowing through it, causing it to wiggle like a worm.

"Kyarii, I know you're around here somewhere!" his voice came again. But my mind was focused. Every time I touched this rope, every time I shared my energy with something inanimate, I felt that lost memories would flow back to me at any moment...

"Haha! There you are!"

... but every time that feeling came to me, something interfered.

My eyes opened, and the rope went limp once more.

"What are you doing?" It was Mizuki. He sat on a tree branch not too far away from me, "We gotta go to class!" He jumped down and started to walk over. He always had to ruin my concentration. I stared at him as he came to a stop next to me.

"Well? Are you coming?" His gaze fell on the rope in my hands, and then his face dropped. He recognized my thinking position. "Kyarii... why do you do that to yourself? You're never going to remember what you've lost by forcing it like that. When the memories are supposed to come back to you, they will!"

I looked up at him and couldn't help but force a smile, I hated making him worry about me. "I know! Just thought I'd try. You'd think after 5 years I'd remember something... a name... or... face..." but I couldn't hold up the forced optimism and my face returned to an empty expression.

He held out his hand for me to take, "Forget it! Ha- oops! Wrong choice of words, but you know what I mean. Just forget it. You're Kyarii Nara, adopted child of the Nara clan."

I started to smile again, "Yeah... It's just worth a try every now and then, you know?"

He looked into my eyes and nodded, "I know, you say that every time.." He paused and then gestured his hand out to me again, "Let's go. We're gonna be late."

I looked up at him from where I was sitting and realized we were in this same forest and position when we had first met. It was a comforting feeling that I had such a pleasurable memory such as that. I took his hand and stood up, "Thanks, Mizuki."

Mizuki shook his shaggy white hair out of his face, "You bet." We started to walk back towards the entrance of the forest. "Hey, you owe me for all the times I've cheered you up!"

I laughed, "Who said I was upset?"

He raised an eye brow as if to ask why I would ask such a question, "C'mon, I know you better than anyone else in this entire village!"

I was just about to refute his statement when he took off out of the forest yelling, "Last one to school buys lunch!"

"Ahh! Mizuki!" I whined before my competitive spirit kicked in. I ran after him at full speed while yelling, "That's not fair you had a head start!" It took my full strength to catch up with him, but I did. We ran together out of the woods and into the morning sun, with the rope now safely strung back in it's usual spot around my belt loops.


	2. Part 1:: Chapter 1: A Broken Promise

_Ting-ting-ting-ting! _The school bell echoed down the hall and into my ears. It was time for lunch and I was starved. Exiting the class room as fast as I could, I ran down the hall towards Mizuki's class room. Our age gap had always placed us in different classes.

"Mi~~zuk~KI!" I caught glimpse of his light blue hair and skipped over to him.

"Hey, Kyarii," he smiled as I landed next to him, "I'm glad to see you're more energized and awake!"

"Yeah well only because you owe me lunch since I beat you to school this morning!" was my cheery reply.

Mizuki's stance seemed to fall a little when reminded of his loss in this morning's foot race. "Oh that's right..." he sighed, "Well, spit it out, where are you so eager to go?"

"The new Ikiraku Ramen shop down on main street!" I couldn't help but keep the grin off my face.

"I should have known.." I heard Mizuki sigh just as I bolted for the doors.

We walked down the busy streets of Konoha, filled with people on lunch break and kids playing in the streets. After a few minutes of silence Mizuki started the conversation hesitantly, "Listen... Kyarii... there's something I've gotta tell you."

I could tell something was bothering him by the slight quiver in his voice. "Yeah? What is it?"

He hesitated again. What was wrong with him today? I thought things felt a little off earlier after we got to school, but I figured it was just because he lost the foot race. And why was he having such a hard time speaking? Talking always came easy between us. I was beginning to feel a little nervous.

"Well...?" I edged him on.

"Well, you see I... I really don't like ramen all that much! Heh.. heh,.." he rubbed the back of his head and chuckled a little.

"Oh..."

_"Liar,"_ I thought. But I decided to play along, "Well that could be a problem since you owe me lunch. Do you want to go some where else? "

"No, no! It's okay, really. I'm not all that hungry anyway!" More lying! He's a 14 year old boy, and teenaged boys are always hungry. Something was definitely up. "Don't worry, I'll still buy lunch for you. I know how much you've been dying to eat here."

I didn't object to his offer since I really wanted to try that ramen place... "Aww thanks..." was all I could say with a smile. Even though he was lying, I still appreciated him keeping his word to me.

Pretty soon the smell of ramen and barbecued meats hit my nose. I couldn't help it when my legs picked up speed as the small street shop came into sight. We sat down under the shade of the booth, feeling a cool fan blow across the bar. It looked as if the lunch time rush hadn't hit yet because we were the only ones seated at the bar. I placed my order, a bowl of ramen with grilled garlic beef. As we waited for the food to cook I knew I had to speak up before any one else came in. Who knows when we'd be able to talk in private again, and it didn't seem like Mizuki was going to start any conversation.

"So, you want to tell me what's really on your mind?"

Mizuki fiddled with a pair of chop sticks before he replied. "I got accepted to the Shinobi Academy."

My mouth went dry. "...What?"

"I'm sorry, I know you're against all the ninja business, but school is getting no where for me and I feel like it's the only thing I've got to offer Konoha..."

"Here's your ramen, young lady!" the cook set down the hot bowl of noodles in front of me, but I had suddenly lost my appetite.

"That's not true..." I said, surprised Mizuki felt that way, "There are plenty of things you're good at!" He shook his head without a word as if he wasn't buying it.

I swallowed the hard truth, "So... you're leaving me by myself at the village school?" The village school was the school for children who didn't possess very high levels of chakra or had no interest in learning ninja ways. For my entire life in Konoha, I had gone to the "normal" school with Mizuki, despite all of our friends who attended the Academy. We had made a promise to each other after the last war that we wouldn't ever participate in such violence. But now it seemed that he had other plans.

"No! I'm not leaving you!" he immediately stated.

It didn't change my opinion. Mizuki becoming a Shinobi would only lead him farther away from me, despite what he said.

"What about our promise? You can't just... break it..." I felt my emotions start to swell up inside of me.

"That was like, what, 4, 5 years ago?" he was getting angry with me, "Things change, Kyarii. This is what I have to do." His tone lowered as he recollected his patience with me, "Konoha needs service in times like these and you know I'm horrible at school. I'll be more useful as a Shinobi. As for spending time together, nothing will change. It's not like we ever saw each other in class anyway since I've always been two years ahead of you."

"Yeah, but the time that we COULD spend together, you're going to be training. You'll make new, cooler friends. And, not only that, but... you could get really hurt out there." The thought made my eyes tear up but I didn't cry.

"Don't you think I've thought all this over already?" he was starting to get a little frustrated again when he saw my eyes glossing over, "You're over reacting. I'll be fine!"

Before the conversation could get any more heated two more people entered the restaurant.

"Ah! Kyarii!" came a girl's voice. It was Rin, my best girl friend in the village. She was a girl with short dark hair and a Konoha head protector. Following her was Obito Uchiha, her hot tempered teammate. "I shouldn't be surprised to see you here! What's up?"

"Oh.. Hi, Rin, Obito.." I greeted them back, but with much less enthusiasm as Rin had. I did my best to avoid eye contact by poking at my bowl of ramen that was still steaming hot.

"Oh! And Mizuki is here with you~" Rin sat down to me and nudged me indiscreetly. I responded by ignoring her and starting on my food.

"So what brings you two Chuunin here? Not off on some big mission?" Mizuki said, obviously trying to distract himself, as well as me, from the previous conversation.

Obito propped his head up on his hands while leaned over the table top. "No..." he huffed, "with mess the Rock Ninja are causing us, all the Jonin get the_ cool _missions, while we're stuck here covering for them." He was obviously annoyed and bored with his current jobs.

"Oh stop it, Obito," Rin scolded, "You know they need us _here_ in Konoha, which is just as important as any other mission."

Obito rolled his eyes at Rin, she was always playing mother towards him. They both placed their orders and Obito continued, "Yeah, but you would think we would be getting something more exciting now that Kakashi's becoming Jonin-"

My chopsticks fell out of my hands with a clatter. I noticed Mizuki perk up at this, too. Rin and Obito exchanged looks.

"You guys... didn't hear about that?" Obito's expression was almost disgusted.

"No!" Mizuki and I both exclaimed at once. He caught my eye contact for a moment, then I remembered I was ignoring him for now.

"Kakashi... he's your other member, right? The one that's our age?" I asked Rin, trying to make sure I had heard right.

Rin nodded, "Mhmm, the legendary White Fang's son!"

"It's not surprising when you think about it," Mizuki said, "I mean, his father was _brilliant._ But I can't believe he's younger than me and already at such high skills..."

"It disgusts me," Obito spat, " 'Don't do this, Obito.' 'Don't do that, idiot.' 'That wasn't in the handbook, Obito..." His mockeries continued and gradually became softer and inaudible. "He acts all high and mighty, like everyone else is an idiot. On top of that he makes the rest of us look bad because of 'how talented he is.' Now he's becoming Jonin. Ugh. Rin, I don't know how you like him."

My head turned to Rin instantly, "You like him? Like, _liike_ him?"

Rin immediately became red. "No! No, no, no! Obito! I told you, I don't like him!" She slapped the dark haired boy on the head.

"Good thing you don't, Rin. Sorry, but I don't care for the kid much, either," I heard Mizuki say, "The times I've been around him, he did come off as a cocky jerk. I can see what Obito means by 'thinks he's high and mighty.'"

"What do you mean, 'sorry'? I. Don't. Like. Him," Rin leaned closer to Mizuki after every syllable.

I couldn't help but laugh at Rin's denial. Deciding she had enough teasing for the day, I tried to shift the conversation. "You know, now that I think of it, I've never meet Kakashi before. Ever. Isn't that weird?"

"What?" said Obito, now with a mouth full of noodles, "Not even seen him?"

"Not that I know of..." I said, trying to dig through my memories for a face that matched their description of Kakashi to me.

"He's the prodigy of Konoha, you haven't even seen him around town at some point?" Mizuki asked me. I could tell he was trying to get me to look at him again, but I refused and continued to eat.

"I'm sure I'll see him someday, but from what you guys are telling me, I don't think I _want _to meet him!"

Obito swallowed a mouth full of food, "Got that right, I wish I never had-"

_SLAP._

Rin had hit Obito again, "Stop hating on him! We are a team you know."

Obito rubbed the side of his cheek that was now red with Rin's hand print. "Ow... Rin... that hurt..."

We couldn't help but laugh at Obito's wussiness. Rin's food arrived next and we all began to enjoy our meals, now picking up small talk. However, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get rid of the voice in the back of my head reminding me that Mizuki was becoming a Shinobi, and it took all my will power to fight back the tears that came with the the thought of losing him.


End file.
